India Meteorological Department issued a red alert in different parts of Kerala as the Southwest Monsoon winds struck the coast of Kerala on Saturday morning.

The IMD has also issued a red alert in the four districts of Thrissur, Ernakulam, Malappuram, and Kozhikode.

The IMD station in Thiruvananthapuram issued the red alert for Ernakulam, Malappuram, and Kozhikode on June 11, claiming that the three districts will receive heavy-to-heavy rainfall on Tuesday. A similar alert has been issued for Thrissur on June 10. An advisory has been issued for fishermen, warning them against venturing into the sea on the above dates.

"Monsoon has made an onset over Kerala today (June 8)," said India Meteorological Department's Director General-designate Mrutyunjay Mohapatra.

Last year in August, Kerala witnessed one of its worst floods in which more than 350 people lost their lives.

A red alert, which means ‘very heavy’ to ‘extremely heavy’ rainfall, has been issued in Thrissur district on June 10 and in Ernakulam, Malappuram, and Kozhikode districts on June 11.

An orange alert, which means ‘heavy’ to ‘very heavy’ rainfall, has been issued in state capital Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha, Ernakulam, and Thrissur on June 9-10.

The state disaster management authority has released a monsoon preparedness and disaster relief handbook. The document contains instructions for 30 departments on what needs to be done as part of the monsoon preparedness and disaster response. The incident response system, which was earlier only till the district level, has now been elevated up to the taluk level.

The IMD has also predicted squally weather with winds reaching 35-45 kmph and likely to prevail over the southwest Arabian sea off the coast of Somalia, Lakshwadeep, Maldives area and Gulf of Mannar. Fishermen have been advised not to venture out to sea from June 7-11 in these areas.

By Sowmya Sangam